Adblock Plus Halts Stealth Pop-ups in Chrome

March 12, 2013 08:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

COLOGNE, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Adblock
Plus, the #1 most downloaded browser add-on in the world, today
announced an update of its add-on for Chrome which blocks a new variant
of stealthy pop-up advertisements that sneak past most existing blockers.

“Most modern web browsers have built-in pop-up blockers already, but
they typically can block only ‘standard’ pop-ups. There is a new variant
of pop-ups on the rise which slip past these blockers, so Adblock Plus
has improved its add-on for Chrome with a universal blocker to stop them
all”

“Most modern web browsers have built-in pop-up blockers already, but
they typically can block only ‘standard’ pop-ups. There is a new variant
of pop-ups on the rise which slip past these blockers, so Adblock Plus
has improved its add-on for Chrome with a universal blocker to stop them
all,” said Till Faida, co-founder of Adblock Plus.

The new pop-up (and pop-under) variants evade traditional pop-up
blockers by opening on mouse clicks and other user events that are
completely unrelated to the advertisement. For example, a user might
click on an unrelated link or button and then receive a pop-up. Built-in
blockers in most web browsers are powerless to stop these types of
pop-ups automatically because doing so will break functionality for many
legitimate websites (pop-up technology is used for more than just
serving up ads). But Adblock Plus is able to selectively block just the
advertising pop-ups by using special filters created by its huge
community of volunteers -– real human beings who can spot and tag the
advert pop-ups without interfering with any site’s functionality.

Adblock Plus is a free ad-blocking tool, and is the product of an
open-source community project; it has been downloaded more than 200
million times worldwide. Adblock Plus plugs into any Chrome, Firefox,
Opera or Android browser.

Adblock
Plus is a web extension that addresses annoying and intrusive online
advertising by putting users in control. It allows defining filters that
determine what a website is permitted to load, as well as provide a way
to collapse unwanted sections of a web page. Adblock Plus has been the
most downloaded and the most used extension almost continuously since
November 2006. PC World rated Adblock Plus as a top innovation in its 100
Best Products of 2007 list, and in March 2010 the project collected
the Linux New Media award for the Best
Open Source Firefox Extension.

COLOGNE, Germany & SAN FRANCISCO--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--eyeo, parent company of Adblock Plus, announced the first members of the Acceptable Ads Committee (AAC), an independent group which wi... more »